OCTA approves new lanes for 405 Freeway

Decision kills contentious toll road option and allows for one additional general-purpose lane in each direction on stretch between 605 Freeway interchange and Euclid Street.

December 10, 2013|By Anthony Clark Carpio and Bradley Zint

ORANGE — The Orange County Transportation Authority on Monday approved new lanes for a portion of the 405 Freeway, a decision that scrapped a hotly contested toll road option that area cities have fought for months.

The estimated $1.25-billion project, known as Alternative 1, was one of three proposals to widen a nearly 12-mile stretch of the 405 between the 605 Freeway interchange in Seal Beach and Euclid Street in Fountain Valley. It calls for adding one general-purpose lane in each direction in an attempt to alleviate congestion.

The $1.47-billion toll road option, Alternative 3, would have replaced the existing carpool lane with a toll route and added a general-purpose lane. Alternative 2 would have added two general-purpose lanes for $1.35 billion.

Construction on Alternative 1 is scheduled to begin in 2015 and finish by 2020. The project amounts to 20% of Orange County's freeway projects under Measure M, a voter-approved sales tax for transportation improvements.

Nguyen, a county supervisor representing District 1, said she didn't want to vote against adding one general-purpose lane, but abstained because she believes building two lanes would have been the better option.

Moorlach, a supervisor for District 2, made a substitute motion to recommend Alternative 2. His motion failed because of funding concerns.

OCTA staff has estimated that an additional general-purpose lane would cost about $100 million. The authority is already short $720 million for the 405 project.

Harper supported Alternative 2, saying it is "not just good politics, but it's good policy."

"More freeway lanes are going to move more people on our freeways, and that's what we should really press to be able to do," he said.

The newly elected mayor of Huntington Beach was concerned that Alternative 1 would allow the California Department of Transportation to mandate that OCTA build the toll lanes.

Alternative 1's construction permits additional space for a second general-purpose lane in the future. Whether the second lane would be free or pay-as-you-go is a topic the agency would discuss at a later date.